As a father seeking to improve his own critical thought processes and as a decidedly novice skeptic I find it is becoming increasingly important to add structure to my existing repertoire of critical thinking and arguing skills. I know I tend to manage my own scientific reasoning, critical thought, and logical frameworks with some degree of confidence and ease — but formally I have yet to define these and understand them for what they are. This is important, especially if I expect to step in the role of educator to my kid and teach her those same skills.

A starting point for this nomenclature is a critical understanding of logical fallacies. What is a logical fallacy? Steven Novella, MD, of the New England Skeptical Society has shared online a pair of useful and insightful articles on the foundations of the logical argument and logical fallacies, How to Argue and The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Presents our Top 20 Logical Fallacies. He writes:

“Even when all of the premises of an argument are reliably true, the argument may still be invalid if the logic employed is not legitimate – a so called logical fallacy. The human brain is a marvelous machine with capabilities that, in some ways, still outperform the most powerful of super computers. Our brains, however, do not appear to have evolved specifically for precise logic. There are many common logical pitfalls that our minds tend to fall into, unless we are consciously aware of these pitfalls and make efforts to avoid them.” ^[1]

From Dr. Novella’s starting point I have decided to attempt my own exploration of logical fallacies. Below, I have listed (starting with the New England Skeptical Society’s top twenty, and hopefully adding more as — and if — I discover them) a collection of those fallacies that will (eventually) serve three purposes; (1) my own further education, research, and understanding, (2) the education of others, and (3) a reference and foundation for further articles, entries, and topics in this blog. And to proceed with this exploration I am going to fall back on the tried and tested (albeit composed of my own original details) fictitious example and quasi-supernatural thought experiment: skep/dad’s all-natural, one-size-fits-all, time traveling baseball cap, also known as The Chrono-Hat.

In each example the skep/kids and I attempt to debunk his claims — but we make our own logical mistakes.

1. Ad hominem [ link ]
2. Ad ignorantiam
3. Argument from Authority [ link ]
4. Argument from final Consequences
5. Argument from Personal Incredulity
6. Presuming Causation [ link ]
7. Confusing currently unexplained with unexplainable
8. False Continuum
9. False Dichotomy
10. Inconsistency
11. The Moving Goalpost
12. Non-Sequitur
13. Post-hoc ergo propter hoc
14. Reductio ad absurdum
15. Slippery Slope
16. Straw Man
17. Special pleading, or ad-hoc reasoning
18. Tautology
19. Tu quoque
20. Unstated Major Premise

[1] Novella, S How to Argue: A guide to examining the premises and logic of arguments – including a list of logical fallacies. New England Skeptical Society, http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=38, 2006